Hunt on for intruder in McCann case

British detectives investigating the 2007 disappearance
of Madeleine McCann say they are looking for a man suspected of
carrying out a series of sexual assaults on young girls staying
in Portuguese holiday villas between 2004 and 2010.

McCann, then aged three, went missing from her bedroom at the
Praia da Luz holiday resort in the Algarve region while her
parents were dining with friends at a nearby restaurant,
leading to a global search that gripped the world's media.

London police, who started a review of the case in 2011 and
began their own investigation last year, said today they were
looking for more information about 12 crimes committed in
Portuguese holiday resorts.

In four cases between 2004 and 2006 a man sexually assaulted
five white girls, aged between 7 and 10 years, in their beds,
in three different Algarve resorts, police said. Two of the
12 offences were committed in Praia da Luz.

The man, described as being tanned with short, dark, unkempt
hair, spoke English with a foreign accent and would appear
early in the morning. In some incidents, he was disturbed and
left.

"This an offender who has got a very, very unhealthy interest
in young, white female children who he's attacking while
they're on holiday in their beds," Redwood said.

"ALL OPTIONS" OPEN

Redwood said the new appeal for information on the man who
carried out the attacks was just one of the "priority lines"
of inquiry currently being pursued. British police are also
in contact with their counterparts in Spain, Belgium, Jersey,
Switzerland, Netherlands and Germany over the case.

British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered a new
investigation by London police after the McCanns wrote to him
three years ago saying neither British nor Portuguese
authorities had done enough to try to find their daughter.

Redwood said McCann might have long been dead.

"There is always the potential that she didn't leave the
apartment alive. What is important for us to do is consider
all the options," he said.